you're watching cbs 5 eyewitness news on the cw. another court date for two american hikers held captive in iran for two years. the indications they could be released any time there. >> at long last, significant progress on the debt ceiling debate in the late night meeting at the white house. the three step plan in the works right now to keep the government from defaulting on its bills. >> a burglary spree in a quiet bay area neighborhood, at least nine homes hit in a matter of days. the excuse one thief used to get in. good evening. it is monday in iran and the two american hikers are finally getting their day in court. as don shows us, there are signs they may be released soon. >> reporter: imprisoned american hikers shane and josh have not been seen since february when they last

appeared in an iranian court. their attorney holds hope their latest appearance on the anniversary of their arrest will mark the end of their imprisonment. >> this has been a very long time in coming. the first time we heard from our investigators that we were going to court was over 22 months ago. so shane and josh and all the rest of us have been waiting for this and hoping for this for a long time. >> they were arrested while hiking on the border of iraq and iran july 31, 2009. the two year anniversary of their arrest and the beginning of the religious month, a time when prisoners are sometimes released are science of hope. >> so truly this entire almost second year of detention has been about waiting for the court hearing. >> the attorney for the imprisoned men say the charges are irrelevant and inconsistent with the facts. but there have been hopes raised before says his brother, alex. >> the only thing this detention is accomplishing is breaking our hearts. >> i was shown compassion and

relief. that was almost 11 months ago and we pray that the time for compassion for shane and josh is very near. >> u.s. state department spokesman was cautious in his comments about the possibility the two men would be released soon. he told the associated press they have seen these dates set before, but the trials have not been in place. >> are there any indications other than the anniversary if. >> you have to read on this, but the one big thing is that sarah has not been summoned back for a court appearance. perhaps that means something. they are trying to figure this out by looking at all the things surrounding b the issue. they don't have a reason to believe they will be released. >> it would be nice to put that in the news. >> thank you don. well sources say there is significant progress in washington tonight. in a last minute stab at compromise, it appears there is some movement toward a debt deal. we are just three days away from that august 2 deadline to

raise the debt ceiling and avoid a government default. jessica stone is in washington on the plan emerging right now. jessica. >> reporter: good evening, ann. senate republicans, we're told that tox between senate republicans and the white house are showing incredible promise. so much so that senate majority leader, harry reid, has postponed a vote to give the talks more time. behind the scenes negotiations at the white house saturday night gave some hope that congress will strike a deal. senate majority leader, harry reid, postponed a vote for early sunday morning to give all sides time to bargain. >> there is still a distance to go before any arrangement can be completed. we should give everyone as much room as possible to do their work. >> democratic leaders went to the white house to meet with president obama and he spoke on the phone to senate minority leader. >> i'm confident and optimistic that we are going to

get an agreement in the very near future and resolve this crisis in the best interest of the american people. >> the senate will reconvene sunday afternoon for a test vote on senate majority reid's proposal. it calls for a cut in spending over ten years and gives the president the ability to raise the debt ceiling in three steps. but it requires the backing of at least seven republicans. 43 have signed a letter rejecting the measure. >> this doesn't come close to starting to solve the problem. >> senator reid's bill failed in the house. congress pledges to work through the weekend, but if both sides can't reach agreement by tuesday, the government says it won't be able to pay all its bills. that could jeopardize social security checks, veterans benefits, and hurt the economy. president obama is confident that won't happen. >> we are in rough agreement on how much spending we need to cut to reduce our deficit and we agree on a process to tackle reform. there are plenty of ways out of this mess.

>> all sides have three days to work out their differences before the august 2 deadline. >> jessica, you have late breaking details. can you tell us about the deal under discussion? >> we are just hearing from a source close to the negotiation that there is a basic agreement in place at this hour. it would raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion. the corresponding spending cuts are more than that and most importantly, it will happen over two stages, not three, and even more importantly, there's a balanced budget amendment in it. that is a critical piece of the puzzle to get republicans on board. ann. >> looking at this plan, is there a clear winner? is it the republicans or the democrats? >> there certainly can't be. there has to be compromise on both sides. i think with what we see right now, we are seeing republicans get that balanced budget amendment. chance to vote on it, not just have it passed. we are seeing senate democrats most likely getting what they

want in terms of a longer term extension on the debt ceiling being raised so that at christmas time, we aren't going through all of this all over again. >> jessica stone, thank you. well digging up an abandoned section of pipeline in san bruno is causing problems. the section was part of the pipeline that caused last year's deadly explosion and fire. state regulators ordered the utility to dig it up. the work began on thursday. today neighbors complained about smelling gas. pg and e says there's no gas in the pipe, just an odor. >> it got trapped in the pipe and had been trap there had essentially since 1956. they have done some work and determined there was no gas still in that pipe. the odor had been trapped inside of the pipe and when the seal was opened, that odor escaped. >> the smell added to the odorless natural gas to warn

customers about a possible gas leak. they have shut down work until next week while they explain to neighbors there's no danger of a leak. neighbors say they have never seen anything like it. at least nine homes burglarized in the past week. two of them overnight. as ann shows us, the thieves are getting bolder. >> reporter: burglars snuck into this woman's parents house this week, one of seven daytime hits in the area occurring when no one is home. >> complete violation of your property. i mean, they lived here almost 27 years to the day and to have somebody come through and go through all their stuff, it's not right. >> and last night, thieves upped the antiin at least two cases burglars entered homes when people were inside. a belmont police lieutenant describes the worst. >> when they awoke at 7:30, not only had somebody entered their unlocked vehicle, but they had also entered their

residence through an unlocked rear window. and had taken a wallet and a set of keys off the table. >> several cars were burglarized last night as well. in all of these cases, the doors were unlocked. >> i have been here for 12 years. >> police have two descriptions of people they think may have been casing the neighborhood. one is a white man in his late 20s. short blond hair. he knocked on one door asking if they had a dog for sale, they didn't, and they left. the other is a black man between 20 and 30 years old with a medium build driving a gray bmw sedan. he was also seen knocking on the doors in the area. >> those were daytime occurrences. we have no leads on the nighttime cornses yet. >> the best advice from police, lock your doors, consider an alarm system and keep an eye on the neighborhood. cbs 5. the truck company involved in last month's deadly amtrak

crash is suing amtrak. six people died when a driver barreled through crashing gates in nevada and plowed into a train bound for emeryville. the company faces five lawsuits. its countersuit against amtrak and union pacific claim the rail companies failed to maintain a safe railroad crossing. union pacific and amtrak have not commented yet. more to ride on transit. fairs increase on monday, august 1. the regular adult fare goes up $2.10. youth and disabled will go up. fares increased to $4.20 for adults and $2.10 for everyone else. local 31 passes will stay the same for everyone except for youth. chevron corporation is on track for what could be its most profitable year ever, boosted by high oil, the

company earned $8 billion in the second quarter. chevron made almost $14 billion in the first half of the year. easily topped their previous high of $11 billion in 2008. chevron is the nation's second largest oil company. preparations are wrapping up for tomorrow's san francisco marathon. the race begins at 5:30 form morning. it goes through the city, golden gate park, and back. you can expect street closures, traffic delays, parking problems, so plan accordingly and use public transportation. a passenger jet goes out of control. passengers screaming. how a 737 from new york ended up in this condition and what is more? no one was hurt. other plane troubles at one of the nation's busiest airports. how passengers describe what happened when two planes collided on the runway. and what does this look like to you? we'll hear people's reaction to

the image of something divine in the vine. jim bernard here in the cbs weather center. continued mild conditions across the bay. the fireworks begin the foothills of the sierra. your forecast is coming up. ,,,,,,,,

at least two people are dead after a two small planes collided midair over alaska. state troopers say the crash happened this afternoon near trapper creek. one of the cessnas managed to land safely. the other crashed to the ground

and caught fire. medical examiners are trying to determine how many people died in the crash. a close call at chicago's busy o'hare airport. two planes collided after backing out of the gea. the airline is causing it a taxi way incursion. so far, officials aren't confirming which part the planes made contact. it does look like the wings clipped. no one was hurt. all the passengers were taken off the plane. >> we were just having a routine flight, pulling away from the gate. everything seemed normal and suddenly there was a big rumble and you could feel the plane shaking and something was really, really wrong. >> the faa and delta are investigating. a packed plane crashed and broke into two in giana and amazingly, everyone is alive. 163 people were on board the caribbean airlines flight from new york. passengers cheered when the jet first landed in south america,

but those cheers turned to panic and screams after the plane slid off the end of the rainy runway. it plowed through a fence and stopped just short of a deep ravine. >> i started to holler. i don't know what happened. people on board hopped on to the wing and jumped on to the dirt road outside the fence. more than 30 passengers were hurt, but only slightly. everyone survived. a preliminary cause of the crash is expected tomorrow. a two-year-old male chimp in a zoo in thailand is showing some unusual maternal tendencies. dodo feeds tiger cubs out of a bottle. he has been doing it every day for more than a year. his trainer say they want to

challenge the chimp. they worked with him until he picked up the habit. sometimes he ignores his feeding tasks and wants to play. right now there's a same size evenly matched, but they will be separated. if not, i'll have a sad story. >> it is high on the cute factor. you are saying fireworks. thunderstorms? >> thunder and lightning over the high country. we may be able to see it tomorrow night, but it should stay to our east here and be isolated pretty much to the high country. tonight no fireworks in the bay area as we look at the transamerica building. as you would expect and it will be there first thing in the morning. slowly clearing off, much like it did today. we should see some afternoon sunshine from midday on. you see here looking at the earlier visible imagery, the extensive fog of north bay today, resulted in cool temperatures there. about 10 degrees below normal

for this time of year. the fog was relatively slow to clear early afternoon, we saw most location clear out here with highs today in the low 70s up in santa rosa. warmer inland, upper 70s to low 80s. back to the bay, we saw upper 60s. mid 60s on the peninsula and cool and foggy most of the day. tomorrow look like more of the same, it will be slightly warmer across the interior. mid to upper 80s there. at the bay, mid to upper 70s. in the east bay, cooling of course as you come back to the peninsula and the beach will likely stay fog bound most of the day, a cool day for the marathon as they will be running in the low 60s for tomorrow morning. we'll see again fireworks sparked out over the foothills. much like today. we continue mild under the low clouds and fog in and around the bay. we did see a lot of lightning strikes between yosemite up

towards south of lake tahoe. look for more of the same tomorrow and it will probably be backing a bit to the west, up in the central valley. fresno and stockton possibly picking up some thunderstorms as well. i don't expect to make it to sacramento or back into the east bay, but as mentioned, it could be visible by tomorrow afternoon when we see big tops and some lightning strikes out there to the east. as we see the low clouds giving way to that type of visibility, at least eastbound to the west, we'll remain cloudy most of the day. temperatures once again end up slightly below normal. mid to upper 80s inland. mid to upper 60s on the peninsula and at the beach, it looks like this cool pattern will continue through the week here as you see, low clouds and fog to continue here, a slight warmup expected by next weekend, but nothing dramatic as it will be mid to upper 80s once again, which is just a couple degrees below seasonal norms for this time of year. as the coastal air conditioner continues in full swing. >> thank you very much.

we have more cute. yes, it is the march of the penguins. san francisco style. today five penguin chicks that hatched at the san francisco zoo's penguin island graduated from fish school. the boy penguins, one girl, sent away to school to learn how to swim and get used to people being around them. today they waddled back to penguin island as their fans watched. >> basically to ensure the highest level of survival. so in the wild, there are lots of things that can happen to chicks. here in the zoo, we are trying to manage for the highest level of success possible so we can maintain this very healthy pool of genetics for the survival. >> and to celebrate their return, the zoo let the crowd name the female, the winning entry, posey. it is a shock to some, what they're seeing on a telephone pole.

>> oh my goodness. jesus. jesus. >> she's not taking the name in vain. it's what she sees. we'll show you more of this.

new visitation valley library opened today, with a traditional good-luck lion dance. the new san francisco's library opened today with a traditional good luck lion dance. the new facility is nearly 10,000 square feet. four times the size of the old library. it cost more than $13 million. paid for by a bond measure several years ago. there's been yet another heavenly sighting in the united states. the image of jesus, only this time people are seeing something divine in the vines. jeanie gives us a look. >> reporter: they see just overgrown vines or does this look like the big operator in the sky. >> oh my goodness. jesus. jesus. jesus christ. >> often these jesus sightings

require lots of imagination, whether it be jesus orkey cheeto jesus. even a virgin mary could be madonna. ♪ [ music ] but this telephone pole in littleton, colorado, strikes most people the same way. >> what do you see? >> jesus on a cross. >> jesus. >> yeah. what do you think? >> oh. >> folks pointed out what looks like a crown of thorns. the body's positioning. >> look at the legs. you know, yeah. >> he is like that. >> while you might think a telephone pole jesus is pretty unique. turns out he's not alone. the utility poles have been sprouting religious images for years all over the country. >> it does look like jesus hanging on the cross. >> that's a group of vines, man. that was put there by him. >> this one in lake charles,

louisiana, from last fall was said to be most striking when seen as you drove by. and while one local was quoted as saying you can't spray jesus with roundup. workers did cut down the vines. officials were worried believers would climb the pole to touch the greenery, then get an electrifying jolt. now if you're having trouble seeing jesus on telephone poles, maybe what you need is the jesus pan. it's supposed to put the image right on food. advertising for the jesus pan says imagine serving heavenly hot cakes at the next church breakfast, they'll flip. of course the image of jesus was much clearer when an episode of glee focused on the topic. >> i had made a grilled crease. >> he prayed to it. >> first of all, you are super delicious. >> can't say that about a phone pole that looks like a

holy chia pet. >> he's trying to speak to us. >> what is he saying? >> he's saying call your mother. >> new york. that's fantastic. the giants and a's work the telephones as the trade deadline approaches and the a's at the coliseum. that's next.

deal that would h on the eve of baseball's trade deadline, the a's and red sox were close to a deal that would have sent rich to boston, but the latest reports say harden is staying in oakland. bill start the clock. a's taking on the twins. bases loaded for scott size

more. hits the two hopper. it rolls into the corner and all three runners come in to score. sizemore has driven in 23 runs since joining the a's. they beat the twins 8-3. >> giants and reds, madison gives up five runs in the 1st and picks up his 10th loss of the season. the reds beat the giants 7-2 and go for the sweep tomorrow. >> after the game, the giants acquired orlando from the indians. this will be the 9th different team he played for. cabrera is expected to take over as the every day shortstop. the raiders have signed former stanford quarterback, trent edwards. he is expected to compete with kyle boller for the backup spot. and finally, funny car legend john made nhra history this afternoon. he qualified first for a record 139th time to run the elimination round tomorrow. not bad for a 61-year-old. >> incredible. >> a lot going on this weekend. >> no doubt.

>> thanks. that's it for eyewitness news at 10:00. kim has more on cbs 5. see you then. good night. ,,,, [ man ] i got this new citi thankyou card

and started earning loads of points. you got a weather balloon with points? yes i did. [ man ] points i could use for just about anything. ♪ ♪ there it is. ve.